A black policeman was killed and70 were injured when a bomb was lobbed onto a parade ground in
South Africa's biggest black township of Soweto this morning,
the government said.
    The device was thrown from a passing vehicle as trainee
township policemen from all over South Africa were on parade at
the Tladi police training centre, the government's Bureau for
Information said.
    Ten officers were seriously wounded and 60 suffered slight
injuries, it said.
    A bureau spokesman said the type of explosive device used
was not known and no arrests had been made.
    The government has blamed a spate of limpet mine blasts in
South African cities in recent months on the outlawed African
National Congress (ANC), fighting a low-level guerrilla war
against white domination in South Africa.
    The municipal police, who perform security duties in black
townships, have been a main target of black militants in the
past three years of political unrest which has claimed some
2,400 lives.
    Many black policemen have been forced to live in compounds
on the outskirts of townships after their homes were attacked.
    Today's attack, one of the most daring since a national
state of emergency was declared last June, came as police and
troops deployed at railway stations to stop attacks on trains
linked to a bitter strike by black transport workers.
    Foreign Minister Pik Botha has alleged that the ANC is
planning a campaign of violence in the run-up to the
whites-only general election next month. Security is a major
election issue, with extreme right-wingers accusing the
government of being soft in the face of a "revolutionary
onslaught."
    Botha warned neighbouring black-ruled states not to allow
the guerrillas to infiltrate South Africa through their
territory. He said South Africa would not hesitate to take
action to thwart the alleged offensive.
    Zambia, Mozambique, Botswana and Zimbabwe denied Botha's
charges and said they were a pretext for South African attacks
on them. Pretoria has raided alleged ANC bases in the so-called
Frontline states in the past.
 Reuter
